MIA at Arugambay

MIA in Sri Lanka (Part 2 – The finale)

Part 2 – The finale

In my last post I spoke of sea urchins putting at end, or at least a temporary end, to my travels around Sri Lanka. In this post you will discover that this may not have been such a disaster after all.

Originally I had intended to travel to Matra the day after surfing in Mirissa and catch a bus inland to Wellawaya. My aim was to reach my familyA?a??a??s rubber plantation, but as you read in the last post, the sea urchins had other plans. I woke up in my Uncle CharithA?a??a??s bungalow the morning after the SUA (sea urchin attack) to hear that a bus near Wellawaya had been bombed leaving many casualties and fatalities behind. Devastated as I was to be sitting there, nursing my swollen and bandaged feet, I could not help but thank those sea urchins for perhaps sparing me the cruel faith that those on the bus had suffered. For the moment I was benched and could not walk, but I would soon recover and set forth again, and as you will learn, lady luck would smile upon me twice more.

Two weeks after SUA, I was travelling again. This time I was staying with my Uncle Lal in Arugam Bay, a chilled surfing town on the east coast that boasts some of the best surf in Sri Lanka. This however was the off season, which explained why there were no other travellers on the beach or in the town. The other reason for the lack of tourism, may have been the fact that there recently had been LTTE activity in the surrounding districts and that there were soldiers now stationed every 100m on the 40km stretch of the main road into and out of town. Lucky for me, my Uncle was there as engineer working with an NGO to build a bridge and water treatment station (the tours were very informative and enjoyable, I assure you), which meant travelling to and from Aruguam Bay was relatively pain free, for me that is. The locals need to get permits from the police station to drive vehicles in and out the town while all the passengers aboard the buses need to disembark produce ID and have their bags searched. The whole process can take up to 3 hrs to get through the 40km stretch. I managed it in an hour and a bit.

Leaving Aruguam Bay Purchase prazosin hydrochloride I headed west to my familyA?a??a??s rubber plantation just passed Wellawaya, my intended destination before SUA. There I spent a very relaxing week enjoying all that hill country life has to offer. My hosts, and what wonderful hosts they were, were my Uncle Lalith, and his wife Aunty Daritha, their naughty but lovable son Vilhan and of course my other Aunty Bundi. They, like all of my relatives in Sri Lanka, looked after me with greatest love and care.

While on the plantation I indulged in many taxing pursuits such as; going through the hundred year old historical documents connected with Rosebury Estate (the name of the plantation) these incredibly included a death certificate of old Englishman, perhaps former owner, who died of gang green in lunatic asylum, nice! another past time was learning about the running and management of the rubber plantation, from labor management to when and how the trees are tapped; but most favourite of all past times was driving the old Morris Minor Traveller around, cue videoA?a??A?

Unfortunately this video is all I have to show for my travels outside of Colombo as the portable hard drive I was carrying around failed when I returned to Colombo which meant all the photos, which included sporting a hard hat and fashionable fluorescent jacket while stood next to half finished 140m bridge and one where I am giving 3 year old Vilhan a stylish Mohawk hair cut were lost. The slideshow below is of some photos I took when I returned to Colombo. You may be wondering whether I lost everything, well worry not, being the good comp sci geek that I am, I backed everything up before I left Colombo, which was damn lucky. Talking of luck.

Earlier I said that lady luck had smiled twice more on me, well she did, and this is how it happened. When I left Hoodia comprar online Arugam Bay I had intended to travel to Rosebury Estate and then north to the old cities, namely Dumbula, and from there take day trips to the nearby sites. But when I reached Rosebury, I enjoyed myself so much so, that I forgot about heading north to Dumbula. A couple of days later, there was yet another bomb on a bus in Dambula leaving more casualties and fatalities. That is the second time and this is the third. In leaving the hill country I had hoped to take the scenic train that lonely planet lists as one of its highlights. You would think that I would have learnt not to use the public transport by now, but it took yet another bomblast in ColomboA?a??a??s main train station with yet more casualties and fatalities, for me to finally get the message.

When I set out to travel I had always envisaged that I was the master of my own destiny, that I alone decided where and what I did. Sri Lanka taught me that your actions affect those around you and care about you, and whether you like it or not, you have a responsibility to them. I was willing to risk my safety and travel on the trains and buses but my uncle was so worried, he would not allow me to travel alone and insisted that he accompany myself. Looking at his worried wife I realised that I was being selfish and conceded not to travel. I dread to think what might have happened had we taken the train to Colombo.

I did finally leave the plantation and return, hitching a ride with yet another uncle and aunty who had come to visit – I know what your thinking, how many auntys and uncles do I have! well the fact that my mother is one of eight and my father one of ten, should clear things up. When I returned to Colombo, I discovered the shocking news that my grandfather had had a heart attack and was in intensive care. When I spoke to the doctors, they were very clear about the chances my 86 year old grandfather had. It was a difficult time for all. But, I am glad to say that my grandfather, being the stubborn determined man that he is, proved the doctors wrong and was discharged and was back at home 10 days later. In the following days I said goodbye to my grandfather and the rest of the family (all of his children had flown in from around the world, my mother included) and boarded a plane to Bangkok.
source:
http://roshansblog.wordpress.com/2008/03/03/mia-in-sri-lanka-part-2-the-finale/